"I'm one of those people who think its no coincidence that dog is God spelled backwards," Sandy told me with great seriousness over lunch. She had proof, too, an email she had just received from a family who purchased a border terrier puppy from her about a year ago. They wrote to give Sandy their heart-felt thanks for bringing them to an animal who had connected the whole family to each other, taught them to play again, and brought them "true joy".

She was pretty convincing, and I'm not one to wax poetic on the spiritual power of animals. In fact, my friend Nancy hasn't let me live down a comment I once made that I love my cats like I love my furniture. And while I realize that sounds a bit cold, I meant it in the best sense of the term "furniture". My cats are homey and companionable. Dogs, on the other hand, lost a bit of their appeal when one of my parishioners told me in vivid detail the story of their beloved pet lab biting off the nose of her youngest son.

But I'm willing to grow, and as usual, God has given me some wonderful teachers in my congregation. Ann introduced my daughter and I to her horse, Nemesis, at the height of Rosa's interest in horses. Not only did she let Rosa groom and feed Nemesis, but she took her for a ride, bareback. The day has become, I'm sure, a lifelong memory for Rosa. Something shifted in me as well when I saw the way in which this horse was careful with my daughter, awed as she was at Nemesis' size and power.

This past week, Nemesis reached the end of her long and full life, and Ann and Wayne bid her goodbye with very heavy hearts. Ann wrote up her memories of Nemesis and let me read them. Her writing had the tone of a spiritual memoir, and I'll conclude with a short excerpt. Ask Ann if you'd like to read the whole thing!

My real memories of Nemmie though are of our many, many rides in the woods and along the Patapsco River. She and I would go for hours just walking and looking at all the gorgeous scenery. I had my favorite trail which followed a lovely creek up and away from the river and then hooked up with another creek even more gorgeous back to the river. On the return I would usually get off and walk, letting Nemmie graze as we walked leisurely back to the farm. Her presence in the spectacular beauty of the woods was such a gift. She never spooked (other than she didn’t like the trains that went by periodically) and just generally was such an amiable companion.